Garth Graham, MD, MPH, is president of the Aetna Foundation. In his role, Dr. Graham is responsible for the Foundation's philanthropic work, including its grant-making strategies to improve the health of people from underserved communities and increase their access to high-quality health care. A national authority on health disparities and health care quality, Dr. Graham is a frequent spokesperson for the Foundation on health care and health equity issues.

Dr. Graham previously served as deputy assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, where he also led the Office of Minority Health. In that capacity, he introduced new federal grants programs to address inequities in health care and health outcomes among the nation's minority and vulnerable communities. His numerous achievements include implementing key health equity provisions of the Affordable Care Act, guiding the development of the first federal action plan to eliminate health disparities under the Obama administration, and driving the effort that for the first time closed the gap in flu vaccination rates among children of color.

Immediately prior to joining the Aetna Foundation, Dr. Graham was the assistant dean for health policy and chief of health services research at the University of Florida School of Medicine in Gainesville. There he was the principal investigator on a number of grants related to improving health outcomes in underserved populations.

Dr. Graham is a widely recognized researcher, writer and editor on health disparities. He has authored articles that have been published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Health Affairs and Circulation. His book, The Role of Decentralization in Strengthening Equity in Healthcare, was published in 2009. He has served on the faculty of the University of Florida School of Medicine and Harvard Medical School. He has also served on a number of boards including the North America Thrombosis Forum, World Health Organization Scientific Group on Equity Analysis and Research, Board of Directors of Physicians for Human Rights and he was appointed to the Federal Coordinating Council on Comparative Effectiveness Research. He was also named the Distinguished Millennium Visiting Scholar at Columbia University.

Dr. Graham holds a medical degree from Yale School of Medicine, a master's in public health from Yale School of Public Health and a bachelor of science in biology from Florida International University in Miami. He completed clinical training at Massachusetts General Hospital and Johns Hopkins. He is board certified in both internal medicine and cardiovascular disease.